Customers’ data demands have increased dramatically in recent years. Photograph: David J Green/Alamy

The average home broadband user downloads 17 gigabytes (GB) of data each month, equivalent to streaming 12 hours of high-definition content from the BBC's iPlayer, as data use has increased sevenfold over the past five years, says a new report.

At the same time 97% of UK premises – and 66% of the country – can get a voice signal outdoors from each of the mobile networks O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone, while 73% of premises and 13% of the country can access 3G data signals, according to research by the communications watchdog Ofcom.

Internet service providers confirmed that customers' data demands have increased dramatically as people have begun to adopt video catchup services and "cloud" services such as YouTube, Flickr and Facebook.

Virgin Media told the Guardian that customers on faster lines use proportionally more data: those on its 10 megabit per second (Mbps) lines use about 19GB a month on average, while those using its 100Mbps lines consume 130GB. As the figures are averages, though, some people using filesharing networks may be downloading considerably more, said a Virgin spokesperson. TalkTalk said the average user downloads 13GB. BT declined to give figures.

For some people, the growth in demand for video puts them in the path of "data caps" imposed by internet service providers. BT's basic broadband service allows users to download 10GB of data, after which they are charged at £5 per 5GB, while Sky's cheapest service, Everyday Lite, has a 2GB cap. Most of the major ISPs' faster services have 40GB monthly limits.

By contrast demand for mobile broadband data is still comparatively small, at 240 megabytes (MB) per connection, Ofcom says.

Almost every phone line in the UK can now get a broadband connection, but Ofcom's data shows that 14% of residential connections run below the 2Mbps that the government thinks is the minimum necessary for a "connected Britain", and which it wants every household to be able to get by 2015.

By contrast "superfast" broadband connections, offering speeds of 24Mbps or more, now pass 58% of UK premises; BT said earlier this week that it intends to accelerate the rollout so that it will pass two-thirds of premises by the end of 2014, rather than 2015.

Ofcom has also introduced a number of maps which will show the availability and speeds of fixed broadband, mobile broadband, mobile coverage, mobile cell masts, digital TV coverage, digital radio reception and local TV coverage.

The report is the first that Ofcom is providing to the government in order to give a snapshot of the UK's communications infrastructure and provide a base against which Ofcom can measure in subsequent reports.

The maps show that the areas of lowest 3G geographic coverage are in the highlands of Scotland and mid-Wales which are both sparsely populated with hilly terrain.

Ofcom is currently working closely with the government to consider how the £150m it has allocated to help address mobile not-spots can deliver the greatest benefits for UK consumers.

The new maps also include digital terrestrial television (DTT) coverage and digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio coverage. The report shows that DTT reaches 89% of the country and DAB 91% for public service broadcasting channels.